The Passion in Your Theme Song

It is almost a truism at this point that anime theme songs bear little to no resemblance to the shows associated with them. There are exceptions, but you don’t have to watch much anime to be familiar with the idea. Oh, those of us who have watched for long enough can tell you in great detail about “the yappapa song,” the theme of one season of Ranma ½, but beyond that, there are lots of examples of light, airy themes for intense, moody works and hard, driving ones for children’s comedies. American shows are usually better, but there are strange exceptions.

The one I love introducing people to is “Run With Us,” from The Raccoons. Now, the show itself is in its way one of the cocaine-induced fever dreams of the ‘80s. It’s a fun show, and as a small child I was able to ignore how wild it was, but it is the story of a family of raccoons who live in a forest and interact with their dog friends and a sinister aardvark, I think he is, who’s trying to get ever-richer. Okay; it is what it is. But the song goes far harder than the cute show about goofy raccoons would indicate.

Perhaps a better known example is WKRP in Cincinnati. The show itself is something of a goofy workplace comedy, at least at initial glance. However, the theme song lets us know that there is something more to it than that. Yes, you’ll find yourself gasping for breath because of how hard you’ve laughed over “Turkeys Away,” but after all the opening premise of the episode is Mr. Carlson’s feelings of worthlessness. He doesn’t do anything, and he wants to feel valued. The theme song is a wistful lament that you’re stuck in the life you have, whether you want to be or not.

Another from the wide world of children’s television is Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Oh, the cartoon’s theme was pretty good, but it had nothing on the game show’s theme. You say, “Do it, Rockapella!” to people of a certain age, and it’s all that it takes to get it stuck in their heads. It is, let us remember, a PBS children’s game show. And you had a live ensemble performing a song about the person you’re seeking. Fantastic and totally unnecessary and something I loved as a child. You couldn’t go wrong even if you’re not a huge fan of a capella performance.

Now, obviously, Dragon Ball Z is anime. For a certain generation the quintessential anime—every few years, we get another one of those for American fans. And the theme song from the Japanese version has a definite beat to it, but it’s got that peppy Japanese light rock feel that non-yapapa versions of the Ranma theme tend to. On the other hand, for some reason, they decided that, when it needed an American version of the theme, it needed hard rock. And, okay, the new version is pretty intense. But I’m not sure “intense” is what the average person wants from their Dragon Ball Z theme.

Many of the great theme songs of TV go hard but go hard in a way that fits their show—Batman: The Animated Series or The Jeffersons, for example. However, I’ll always have a love in my heart for ones that see the assignment and think, “I can do better.” Honestly I’ve never seen Danger Man but can’t imagine it’s as amazing as its “Secret Agent Man” theme song. Of course Law & Order and The Rockford Files have driving theme songs. That’s their job. And WandaVision had the job of representing every era the show touched on. But did Barney Miller need its bass riff and funk vibes? Arguably it did not, though I’m sure Detective Harris would have approved.